


Alter-Ego

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Brotp, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-10-20 06:41:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10657038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: the one where taem is the new intern but jong knows him from… somewhere else ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)tumblr





	Alter-Ego

Sometimes, Jonghyun hates his desk job. Paperwork, water cooler gossip, jammed staplers--none of this is what he wanted to be doing in his mid-twenties. It’s not what he wants out of life. He doesn’t really know exactly what it is that he wants, but that’s not the point. The point is, this job isn’t it and he really hates being stuck here sometimes.

Other times, though, he doesn’t really mind it. Like that time when he won the office raffle and got a really nice free tv, and that time he met Jinki from two floors up and went out for a drink and woke up the next morning hungover in the bathtub with a new best friend. And especially this time right now, when he’s being introduced to the cute new intern with wavy black hair whose “office formal” seems to be rumpled dress shirts with clumsily tied ties. He’s totally into that.

Taemin is what Kibum introduces him as; Lee Taemin, who will be working as an editor for the company articles and taking the empty desk behind Jonghyun’s in his little corner. Jonghyun is kind of bummed about that, because he liked tossing all of his extra crap there, but he doesn’t really mind. Some company will be nice, and Taemin has a little potted plant under his arm that smells pretty good. How cute. He grins easily, holding out his hand for Taemin to shake.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, appreciating how firm Taemin’s grip is even though he seems nervous. The intern smiles back, lips curving into a pretty smile.

“Thanks,” he replies. “Um--I’ll try not to ask you too many questions.” He gives a little shrug of his shoulders as he says it, like questions are probably going to be inevitable anyway. Jonghyun doesn’t really mind that either. Kibum pats Taemin on the shoulder and walks away to go lean against Minho’s cubicle and bug him for something like usual and Jonghyun rolls back in his chair to give Taemin more room.

“Ask whatever you want, I’m just happy I have some company over here,” he grins. A corner of Taemin’s lips quirks his smile into more of a smirk as he slides into his new space and starts setting his stuff up.

“You get lonely all by yourself?” he asks, just a hint of teasing in his voice that makes Jonghyun pout. Rude. He lets it go quickly, though, with an easy shrug.

“A little, bit, yeah,” he says, and Taemin chuckles softly. Jonghyun’s grin grows, ego boosted at the slightest sign of approval. “It’s a plus that you're so cute, too,” he adds casually. Taemin blinks, then throws him a finger pistol and a wink, obviously pleased.

“Hey, thanks, I know,” he says, turning back to his new desk. They fall into a comfortable silence where Taemin pulls generic office supplies and some cute knick knacks out of his box of stuff. Jonghyun should probably be getting back to work or something, but he’s too busy studying Taemin’s face instead. He looks… familiar. The roundness of his cheeks, the deep eyes, the plush lips, kind of a weird cupid’s bow… Jonghyun feels like he should know Taemin. That he does know him from somewhere. He puffs his lip out in a pout as he thinks. It’s then that Taemin glances over his shoulder and sees Jonghyun still looking at him; his cheeks take on a faint dusting of pink.

“Um--is it the plant?” he asks, sheepish. “It’s weird, I know, but I just--if you don’t like how it smells, I can--”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Jonghyun says quickly, waving away Taemin’s concern with a little laugh. “It’s just… have we met before?”

Jonghyun isn’t sure, but he thinks Taemin’s little sigh of relief is cut off by a sharp intake of breath. He smiles weakly, laughing a little awkwardly; he reaches up and runs his fingers through his hair.

“I, um,” he starts, “No, uh, I kind of get that a lot,” he mumbles. “One of those faces, I guess, right?” He shrugs; Jonghyun squints at him for a moment, and then shrugs as well. He guesses, if Taemin doesn’t recognize him at all, he must be wrong.

“I must be thinking about someone else cute, then,” he says. Taemin nods, a sly grin creeping back onto his lips in place of his shifty half-grimace.

“Not as cute as me, though, right?” he asks, giving Jonghyun a totally fake pout. Jonghyun laughs softly, leaning back in his chair and raising an eyebrow.

“Well, of course not,” he says. Like, obviously. Taemin smiles, eyes turning into cute little crescents.

~

Life with Taemin as his corner buddy is great. He never knew an editing intern could be so fun. Taemin is cheeky, snarky, shamelessly confident in a cute way that Jonghyun could never pull off. He shares the little comics from his daily rip-off calendar with Jonghyun, the fruit flavored candies he buys from the vending machines, hell, he even shares his little potted plant with Jonghyun. He’d talked for like, ten minutes about it and Jonghyun didn’t even care that he lost track of what Taemin was saying in the middle of the conversation because he was just so cute and he wanted to keep listening to him anyway.

They’ve done pretty much nothing but nonstop flirting for the passed two weeks; the only reason Jonghyun hasn’t flat out asked him out yet is because they already see so much of each other at work.

He still can’t shake the feeling that he knows Taemin from somewhere, though. The more he looks at the intern, the more certain he becomes that he knows his face from something. He just can’t place his finger on it. He’d never known a Taemin before, either, but he feels this recognition in his soul. He thinks about it all the way home while he’s sitting in the evening traffic and it’s still on his mind by the time he settles himself in bed with his laptop for the night. He thinks about it all the way up until he realizes that he’s kind of getting a boner from scrolling passed a photoset of hot dudes in lacy lingerie. Then his mind kind of… drifts to other things.

He shifts his laptop off of his lap and wiggles into a more comfortable position, one where he can spread his legs a little bit, reach up to tug on his hair, and slip his hand down into his sweats and rub against his cock. He hums quietly, smiling to himself at the first signs of pleasure as his he hardens under his hand. He hasn’t really done this in a while and he’s kind of missed it.

As he reaches with his free hand for his little bottle of lube to make things easier, though, he wrinkles his nose at his laptop screen. He’s not really feeling the photoset. He doesn’t care much for big, muscley dudes looking like manly men in the most stereotypically feminine kind of undies; he prefers twinks, sweet little minxes with soft asses that are prettier than the lace on their skin, that smile and giggle and take what they want in the cutest way possible.

He also kind of has a thing for plugs, which he’ll probably never tell anyone even though it’s not that embarrassing of a kink.

At any rate--he closes his eyes and pictures what he likes instead, squeezing some lube into his palm and slipping it back down under his sweats. He imagines cute asses in lace boyshorts, bobbing ponytails and sucked fingers, pleased hums as pretty pink plugs are pressed deeper inside, soft gasps between loud slaps of skin against skin…. He’s imagining too many things.

He groans, opening his eyes and pouting up at the ceiling. One would think that he would remember how to jack himself off properly, but no. He’s going through too many images without being able to pick one to focus on and it’s not getting him anywhere. Ugh. Maybe he needs a little help.

He doesn’t normally look at porn; besides all of the problematic bullshit woven through the industry, none of it is ever even… good. He has never found a good porn. He’s not sure that they even exist. Maybe he’s too picky, or maybe they’re a myth.

There is one, though, one that he always falls back on when his brain isn’t cooperating with his dick like right now. It’s one of a small series all starring Ace, the pretty redhead with gorgeous lips and a stunning ass. He likes all of the videos starring Ace; he found clips of one on some knockoff site titled “cute asian twink gets pounded and loves it,” then searched for an embarrassingly long time for the official video. When he found the video, he found that the man had at least ten more that were easy to find just by searching his name.

He may or may not have the link to his favorite one bookmarked. He grabs the link and pastes it into an incognito tab (his sister uses this laptop sometimes and he’s always a little paranoid). While the video is loading, he moves his laptop into a more comfortable position and wiggles his hand back into his sweats. There. Good. It starts off like usual, with a slow, objectifying pan up the back of Ace’s legs, up his soft thighs, hovers for a long moment on his round ass snug in a pair of lacy, mint green boyshorts. Mmm. One hand slowly pumping his cock, he uses the other to skip ahead a little bit in the video, passed all of the really awkward questions from the cameraman about how horny and ready for cock Ace is. Jonghyun gets it. The guy likes dick. That’s kind of the point.

He skips ahead to the part where Ace bends over and pulls his boyshorts down around his thighs, spreading his legs to reveal the round plug in his ass.

“Fuck,” he breathes, squeezing his cock a little tighter. If he’d gotten himself more worked up earlier, he probably could have come just from this part alone. He bites his lip as Ace reaches behind himself and plays with the plug, pulling it almost all the way out and pressing it back in, humming softly as he fucks himself with it, free hand lightly playing with his balls. He moves his laptop into a more stable position so he can fuck up slowly into his hand without it falling off of the bed.

He’s getting really into it when the camera suddenly switches to Baldy McGeneric Top. He groans in disappointment, exhaling through his nose with impatience. Up next is the bad porn acting, the awkward groping, and the blowjob. He doesn’t really care for blowjobs; they’re nice to feel, not to look at, even if Ace is pretty good at them. If he’s remembering correctly, though, after the blowjob comes the part where Ace presses Baldy down onto the couch and teases his cock with his ass.

Jonghyun likes that part.

He skips ahead a few minutes, not really sure how far ahead it is. He doesn’t want to go too far; he likes when Ace starts really fucking himself down, but the first press in is always his favorite part. He makes the most gorgeous sound when he bottoms out.

He winds up skipping to the end of the blowjob; after a moment of hesitation, he shrugs. Close enough. Grabbing the lube again, he drips a little bit more into his palm since he’s sure that he’s going to come to what’s coming up. He fits his cock loosely as he waits, absentmindedly studying Ace’s features for the first time in a while. He’s cute.

And… now that Jonghyun is really looking at him, he looks… familiar. The roundness of his cheeks, the deep eyes, the plush lips, kind of a weird cupid’s bow….

Fuck.

Oh--fuck.

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ _-_ -

He slams his laptop shut, but the image of Taemin’s sweet lips smiling around a thick cock stays like it’s been burned on the insides of his eyelids.

~

He doesn’t last two seconds without blushing like a fucking tomato the next time he sees Taemin. Christ. And he thought he was good at playing things cool.

Of all of the positions he had to see Taemin first today, it had to be with his face down and ass swaying up in the air as he gropes for something under his desk. Of course.

He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react, what he’s supposed to say, how he’s supposed to feel? He doesn’t suddenly disrespect Taemin or anything; there’s no shame in the intern’s old job, but he’s still just… uncomfortable, is the word that he would use. Uncomfortable knowing a secret that Taemin probably doesn’t want him knowing, uncomfortable knowing the intricate details of just how well Taemin can take a dick, and uncomfortable having to deal with the fact that he’s been a fan of his new friend’s series of porn for at least three years.

There has to be some kind of unspoken law of privacy violation about this. Somewhere in the bro code. Rule number whatever, “don’t fucking jack off to your friend’s asshole.” Ugh. He feels like a dick and he hasn’t even technically done anything wrong.

“Morning, Jonghyun,” Taemin says, snapping him out of his thoughts. Jonghyun blinks, looking away from Taemin’s ass and to his face under the desk. From the little triangle he can see under Taemin’s arm, he’s smiling like usual, glad to see him, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Oh--um--hi.” He doesn’t think he really captured that same essence just there. Taemin grunts quietly--a noise that Jonghyun is all too familiar with, now that he knows--and wiggles out from under the desk, holding his pen up triumphantly.

“Got it,” he exclaims as he stands up straight. “Fuck. That took way too long.” He rubs his elbow with a cute little pout that Jonghyun’s seen countless times, only under a head of longer, red hair instead of the casual mop of black that is now. Taemin shrugs after a moment, grinning again and tossing his pen on his desk. “Hey,” he says, leaning a little closer, a concerned little frown changing his lips again as he peers at Jonghyun. “You okay? You’re all flushed.”

Fuck. Why did he have to notice so quickly?

“Um, well,” Jonghyun starts awkwardly. What the fuck does he say? Does he just pretend like it didn’t happen and say nothing is wrong?

No. Taemin would know he was lying immediately. And even if he did buy it--there’s no way Jonghyun can just go back to normal quickly enough for Taemin not to notice again later. He should say it. He should just up and tell Taemin what’s making him so fucking flustered. He’s gonna find out eventually anyway, and then it’ll be worse because he’ll know that Jonghyun kept it from him for so long. Jonghyun exhales heavily and reaches up to rub the back of his neck.

“You know how… when we first met, I said I thought I recognized you?” he starts, looking anywhere but Taemin. He only knows to continue because Taemin makes a little noise of confirmation. “Well, I um,” fuck, this is harder than he thought, “I kind of, found out where I know you from. Last night.” He chances a glance at Taemin’s face; he’s looking back at him, blank and confused.

“Oh,” he says.  Jonghyun watches, apprehensive, as realization dawns slowly on Taemin’s features. His eyes widen and cheeks flush pink; _“_ _Oh,_ _”_ he repeats. “Oh--um--oh, fuck.”

Jonghyun couldn’t have said it better himself. He can only imagine how much his embarrassment is magnified for Taemin.

“I don’t, um,” he says, trying to figure out how to say that he doesn’t think any different of Taemin even though he’s seen him in a number of adult videos. Taemin puts his face in his hands for a moment--Jonghyun recognizes his fingers from that video of him fingering himself and jizzing onto his stomach--before he looks back up, pinker than before but with a very determined set to his jaw.

“I’m going to go get some water,” he announces clearly, then brushes passed Jonghyun and strides away, far too purposeful to be entirely convincing. Well, shit. Jonghyun stands there, not entirely sure of what to do with himself. If Taemin doesn’t want to talk about it, then… then he won’t bring it up again. It’ll just be an understanding between the two of them, one that hopefully won’t ruin their new friendship. It’ll be fine.

~

Life with Taemin as his corner buddy is not fine. He never knew being in such close proximity to someone whose ass you’ve practically seen inside of could be so awkward. They’ve essentially stopped talking; apart from awkward greetings and mumbled small talk, they’ve halted all other communication. All week there’s been no more daily calendar comics, no more flirting, no more anything. The only reason he hasn’t requested a new desk or something is because he doesn’t know how the fuck he would explain the sudden need.

He wants to say something-- _anything_ \--to Taemin, to tell him that he doesn’t mind, that he wants to go back to how they were before, but he doesn’t because it’s not his call to make. He doesn’t get to decide when it’s Taemin’s privacy that was invaded. If Taemin wants to break their awkward silence, he will. For now, though… he’s all too aware of the sound of Taemin’s fingers tapping away at his keyboard. Every generic office noise has been magnified tenfold during their silence.

He reaches over for his bag of chips from the vending machine; it crinkles and squeaks louder than a fucking bomb even as he tries to ease it open. The crunching of the first chip in his mouth is like the shattering of glass and he winces. Maybe he’ll just… come back to those later. Taemin coughs behind him, clears his throat. Jonghyun next reaches for his bottle of soda since he needs something to help him swallow with his dry mouth. The sound of him unscrewing it is nothing compared to the obnoxious, horrifying slurping noise his lips make without his consent. He winces, taking the bottle away from his mouth. He doesn’t--

“Okay, this is _bullshit.”_

Jonghyun jumps at Taemin’s sudden outburst. It was accompanied by a loud bang, like Taemin had slammed his hands onto his desk. When he swivels around meekly in his chair, Taemin is already facing him, an annoyed frown on his lips and a furrow between his eyes. He gets his hands on the arms of Jonghyun’s chair to stop him from moving any more and looks him dead in the eye.

Jonghyun is a little intimidated.

“ _Yes_ I used to do some porn when I was in school,” Taemin says, gripping the arms of Jonghyun’s chair tighter for emphasis. “ _Yes_ I look like a babe in panties and _yes_ there are at least twenty videos out there of my ass getting rammed in HD.” Jonghyun looks away quickly; he can’t believe he missed five whole videos. Taemin shakes his chair impatiently; he looks back, noting that Taemin looks even more annoyed than before. Oops. “But _so the fuck what?_ ” Taemin hisses next. Jonghyun blinks. He’s still kind of caught off guard and Taemin is looking at him like he expects an answer.

“Um,” he says intelligently. Taemin scoffs with a roll of his eyes.

“I don’t give a fuck, okay?” he snaps. “It was fun and I liked it and I don’t regret it and if the industry wasn’t such a huge piece of shit I would do it again and I will _not,_ ” he continues forcefully, with an extra pointed glare, “sit here and let you make me feel fucking weird for doing it.”

Jonghyun thinks he’s done with that note and he blinks again, hopefully less blankly this time. He’s processing Taemin’s words, albeit a little slowly, and what he’s realizing under Taemin’s determined gaze is that… he’s relieved. Taemin just said all of the shit that he wanted to hear. He’s not ashamed, Jonghyun hasn’t been shaming him in his mind, they’re on the same page. Great.

“Um,” he says, hopefully more intelligently this time. He sits up a little straighter. “Okay,” he says, nodding earnestly. “As long as you don’t make me feel weird for having jacked off to you for like, three years.” He smiles weakly with a little shrug; Taemin’s face immediately softens at his reply and he snorts quietly.

“Please,” he grins. “You don’t know how many dudes have told me that in much less polite terms. I don’t even care.” He pushes off of Jonghyun’s chair and leans back in his, completely casual and at ease around him for the first time all week. This is good. Jonghyun grins back easily, probably a little bigger than usual because he’s so fucking glad to have this crushing weight of awkwardness off of his chest.

“Well, okay then,” he says simply. “Are we cool?” He just wants to make sure. Taemin laughs quietly and nods, running his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah,” he says. “We’re cool.” Jonghyun sighs happily.

Cool.

~

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“Which one’s your favorite?”

“What?” Jonghyun glances up from his little cup at the water cooler to see Taemin looking at him with a curious little grin. He frowns. He thinks water cooler gossip is supposed to be more specific than this. “Which what is my favorite?” he asks. Taemin rolls his eyes, then leans a little closer and wiggles his eyebrows.

“You know which what,” he says lowly, lips curving into more of a smirk. Oh. That what. Jonghyun makes a noise--several, actually, and he’s not really sure what they mean. Some form of communication, probably, to encompass his complex emotions about being put on the spot for such a revealing question.

“Well, um, I mean,” he says, waving his free hand around in circles. He’s stalling. He knows exactly which one his favorite is. He just doesn’t want to say it because Taemin’s giving him that jester smile, the one with all of the teeth and the raised eyebrows. The one that says that Taemin will win if Jonghyun gives in and answers, no matter what his answer is.

Jonghyun’s not sure what game it is that they’re playing exactly, but he still knows that if he answers, Taemin wins. He sips his water and glances aimlessly around the room, wondering if he can just make some shitty excuse and slip back to his desk. A glance back at Taemin makes him realize that that’s a shitty idea. Of course that won’t work. Taemin will just follow him. He sighs, scooting even closer so he can talk as quietly as possible.

“The one with the green boyshorts and the plug,” he mutters quickly into his cup. Taemin’s face breaks into a wide, giddy smile.

“Someone’s a little kinky,” he singsongs, reaching over to nudge Jonghyun’s arm. Jonghyun feels his cheeks turning pink. Rude. Plugs aren’t even that kinky. They’re like, right up there in the porn shops with regular old dildos and vibrators. He huffs, offended.

“You said you weren’t gonna make me feel weird about it,” he pouts accusingly. Taemin just laughs under his breath, taking his own cup of water and flouncing daintily back to his desk. What a shit.

When Jonghyun shuffles over there and grumps into his own chair, Taemin leans back obnoxiously into his space and pokes his cheek.

“It was my favorite one too,” he says, and turns back to his own work. Jonghyun glances at the back of his head with an amused grin. At times like this, he really doesn’t mind being stuck at an office job.


End file.
